Eric Andrew Schiller was born in New York. He has served as an international organizer for FIDE, and also an international arbiter most notably for the Kramnik-Kasparov World Championship match. Mr. Schiller also captained several Pan-American Intercollegiate teams, as well as the World Youth Championship in Chicago.

Over-the-board accomplishments include obtaining the USCF Life Master, and FIDE Master titles. He won the 1974 Illinois State Championship, and the 1995 Calchess State Championship.
Schiller has also established himself as a prolific and popular author of a wide range of chess books.

Eric Schiller: I'm proud of my heritage dating back to some Grand Rabbi in Pinsk (or Minsk, we aren't sure) and didn't take it as a slur. I just wanted to set the record straight. My relatives died in Auschwitz, and my mother had her career denied over racial issues. But for over 25 years I have been a political activist in opposition to Israeli policy. To me they are totally separate issues. Ethnic pride is fine, but I draw the line when people claim superioity. I hold those who share my bloodline to a higher standard, admittedly, but I don't think that is a bad thing.

eggwipe: <Cause it has so much to do with Wikipedia's reliability, right?> No it was to do with something else Ray said.

<And <Ray Keene> said that <Eric Schiller> was his friend so maybe he doesn't need <chessgames.com> to tell <Ray Keene> about his ancestry. Or do you want to insinuate they had no other possibility to communicate?>

Of course he doesn't 'need' <cg> to tell him. But, given that Ray said 'I have Jewish friends' (e.g. Eric) on <chessgames>, it only makes sense that Eric would reply to that on the same forum.

Kriegspiel: <Domdaniel> It's an opening system for Black. What the proper name is, I still don't know, because nobody here has been able to tell me. Since my original post here, I've learned that the Soviets called it The Scorpion, though whether there are other names, and whether there is any agreement on a definitive name, I don't know. White can respond to it in any of various ways. I've seen it in games as old as the 1860s and as recently as the last few years. Note also this game:

I thought that Moody's was a "Universal Attack". Also, you wrote that Pafu's Beginner's Defence uses "the same system as Moody" only without restrictions on move order (I agree, a bad idea), and that you "know of no human games played with such a system". Since there are plenty of "human games" (plenty at master level or above, too) played with that set-up as Black, and you likely were familiar with them at the time you wrote that, it seems likely that you meant something more specific: perhaps no such games where the same set of initial moves is blindly applied in arbitrary order regardless of what White does?

mack: Yes, I would recommend the chapter in Tiger's Modern (which begins with a line from the Talking Heads) over Andrew Martin's The Hippopotamus Rises any day. The latter doesn't sit quite right, because as he admits himself in the notes to Nezhmetdinov-Ujtelky, 'Maybe I'm the wrong guy to play this slow stuff...'. Somebody with a better understanding of the nuances of fianchetto-y play could have done the hippo justice, but Martin doesn't quite pull it off.

Domdaniel: <Kriegspiel> That Petrosian-Spassky game is fascinating. I downloaded both of their matches from RusBase ages ago - they're also in the standard databases - but I missed this game. Probably because it was drawn.

Note, though, how White's set-up is quite different to the 'ideal' classic formation in your position. This is more like a King's Indian, with a 3-pawn c-d-e4 centre, and the bishops on e2/e3 supporting it.

In the ideal/classic position, the white bishops on f4 and c4 are (a) biting on the proverbial granite, and (b) asking for trouble once black makes a pawn break.

Kriegspiel: <DomDaniel> Isn't it, though! As for the White set-up being different, yes, but as I said, I have seen a number of master level games where Black plays this same set-up against a variety of White opening set-ups, including the one I posted initially.

The very fact that Black could play this in a World Chess Championship game against Petrosian, and draw, shows that it is positionally sound.

Personally, though Eric may disagree with me, I think that there is a lot to be said for this opening. The problem is that, contrary to some who have called it a "Beginner's Game" (Pafu) I think that to play this successfully requires great strategic insight by Black. Lacking that, you will be swept off the board or slowly crushed.

Here, you can find many such games where Black plays this opening (and wins) against a variety of White replies; Black players include Bologan, Ponomariov, and Short:

Eric Schiller: <aw1988> I'm mostly recovered but still some lingering effects. I am back to a full teaching schedule, though I have to take breaks because I'm still a bit anemic, which affects my productivity. I've been busy with political work much of the fall but now things are returning to normal and I finally finished a book on the Pterodactyl,which will be out in a few months. I'm now writing a book on English grammar for students, based on my teaching English writing. That will be my focus for a while, then more chess. I do expect to be at Gibraltar for the tournament at the end of January.

Castle In The Sky: Eric, I wish you the best in recovering from your stroke. I had a question on Chessbase vs. ChessAssistant. I have finally reached a level of mediocrity where one of these programs could be useful, we'll say upper C lower B class USCF, depending upon how much moisture affects my synapses. Which program would you recommend?

Eric Schiller: <passed paun> Scandalous, if what I've heard is true. The USCF is headed for scandal season, with a big one involving rating manipulation by a board member coming to light. I hope they get a proper championship sorted out, but if it takes another year or two we'll survive.

I'd like to see a more elite competition, with 32 players in a minimatch (4 game) knockout series, which needen't be held in a single location. Perhaps two rounds of rewgionals, with the final 8 in longer matches as a final.

chessgames.com: <Eric> Thanks for that, the new history section is a lot of fun.

About the Caxton opening project: our obsession for perfectionism is slowing our progress, but we very much are eager to start discussion threads on everything from the Pterodactyl to the Picklepuss. Our biggest concern is still the transition between discussions based on ECO to discussion based on Caxton. We think we have a way to do it, that will require some bold moving of posts from the old pages to new ones.

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